Women in IT Excellence Awards closes on record number of submissions

In only its second year, the event is set to be a wild success, building on the fantastic night in 2017, which featured the comic talents of Zoe Lyons, veteran of Mock the Week amongst many other programmes. Lyons drew attention to the large black balloons floating above every table.

“I know what you’re all thinking,” said Lyons. “How soon till I can nick one of those balloons? We should have a competition to see who manages to get one the furthest away from the building tonight.”

Winning the CIO of the Year category in 2017, Heidi Fraser-Krauss, of the University of York argued that there are more women working in IT than some believe.

“There’s this idea that there aren’t substantial numbers of women in IT, there are more of us than you think. We need to change the story. We’re not unicorns and we’re doing good stuff.

“I did a survey of heads of IT at universities, and about 20 per cent of them are women. If you have this narrative saying there are not many women, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.”

With a refreshed list of 19 categories, this year’s event is set to be bigger and better than ever, and will be a fantastic opportunity to promote and celebrate the success of women right across the IT industry.